Having helped thousands of women in her clinic, our co-founder and registered nutritional therapist, Alice Mackintosh witnesses daily just how effective high quality nutritional supplements can be on the body when planning pregnancy, pregnant and post-natal.
"One of the joys of my job as a nutritional therapist over the last decade has been to support women on their journey before, during and after pregnancy. At a time when a woman’s body is put through its paces in the most extraordinary way, I found there was a distinct lack of supportive information to help women stay healthy, whilst supporting their growing babies. Afterwards, when Mum’s focus shifts entirely to the health of their little one, with far less regard for their own needs, I was finding more women experiencing symptoms of post-natal depletion. Having struggled to find reliable, high quality formulas that included key nutrients such as bio-available chelated minerals, vitamins D&K2, choline, folate, DHA and methylated B vitamins, I initially created the Pregnancy Formula and Oil Edition for Rosie’s first pregnancy. Years later, we both found ourselves pregnant at the same time, and relied hugely on this these two products for full body nourishment.”
How do Pregnancy Formula support me and my baby?
For many women, getting pregnant is the first time they begin to really consider the importance of their diet and nutrition. We innately all want to grow a perfectly healthy little human, and research shows a great many links between the right nutrition and fertility (for men and women), healthy pregnancy and post-natal wellbeing.Here are the key nutrients we add into our award-winning Pregnancy Formula to help support you during this time:
- Advanced Multivitamin and Mineral Blend: A comprehensive spectrum of bio-available vitamins + minerals calibrated for optimum female health
- B-Vitamin Blend: Supports energy* and the regulation of hormonal activity*
- Ginger Root: A natural well-used remedy for sickness and nausea
- FerroChel® Iron: Energising and helps to reduce fatigue during and after pregnancy. In a gentle form that doesn’t constipate
- Methyl-folate: A natural, healthier form of folic acid, which supports normal development of the foetus and reduces risk of neural tube defects*. Folate is also needed for the process of cell division and for the formation of normal blood.
- Vitamin D3: Vital during pregnancy for both Mother and baby. Also supports immunity*, mental health and gut microbiome. Aids calcium and phosphorus absorption to help ensure your teeth, muscles and immune system stay healthy during pregnancy. This addition prevents the need for further supplementation.
- Selenium: Supports healthy thyroid function, helps keep your hair, nails and immune system healthy during pregnancy*.
- TRAACS® Manganese, Zinc: Special chelated forms of minerals from the USA, which have superior absorption and no adverse side effects. Supports fertility*, immunity* and energy*.
- VitaCholine™️: Shown to support neural tube and brain development and may play a role in preventing birth defects. Rarely found in good quality multi-vitamins.
- Vitamin C + Iron: Supports immunity* and energy*.
- Calcium: For normal muscle function and to help keep your bones and teeth maintained, also needed for the metabolism of energy*.
- Vitamin K2: Essential for helping to build healthy bones in baby and supporting Mum’s bone health.
- CoQ-10: Shown to help improve fertility, cell metabolism, support ovary health as well as helping energy and mental clarity for Mum.
*EFSA validated claim
What sets Equi’s Pregnancy products apart from other brands?
All the supplements we take should be 'clean' and nourishing, but we know that when it comes to fertility, pregnancy and postnatal wellbeing, this takes on a whole new meaning. Our dedication to ensuring Pregnancy Formula and Oil Edition only contain the precise, high quality nutrients needed by the female body during this phase of life is our number one priority and we believe this is one of the reasons why we get so many positive reviews from women taking the product. We don’t include any fillers, binders or chemicals in the products, so we can say with confidence that the body is only getting nourishing goodness without any of the undesirable ingredients found in competitors’ formulas.
In addition to this, whilst we take every step to make the supplements as economical as we can for everyone, the high-quality ingredients we mention above are more expensive and harder to get hold of and previously, it was impossible to get all of these in one easy product.
Alice expands more for us: “I had always struggled to find quality prenatal supplements for my clients and was importing products from the USA and Australia. Often my clients were taking three or four different products to ensure they could get the good levels of nutrients like vitamin D and choline, and this meant costs were mounting up. It was also impossible to find pregnancy focussed products that contained methylated B vitamins and folate.”
“Rosie became pregnant not long after we launched Equi and I turned my attention to formulating this for her. I was hell bent on bringing a better product to the market that would raise the standard from the current market standard”.
After almost a year of research and a search for the best suppliers and top-quality ingredients, Pregnancy Formula and Pregnancy Oil Edition were the result. Both founders, like thousands of other women have now relied on these throughout their pregnancies and we also have specialists recommending our pregnancy range to their clients and patients.
How does Pregnancy Oil Edition differ to Pregnancy Formula?
The two products are very different but equally as supportive to the body. Pregnancy Formula is the highest quality multi vit/mineral targeted at supporting fertility, pregnancy, breast-feeding and postnatal wellbeing.
Meanwhile the Pregnancy Oil Edition is an omega-3 fish oil only. These super pure capsules contain a high level of DHA in tri-glyceride form which is the most absorbable way to consume fish oils. DHA is an essential omega 3 fatty acid that is very important during pregnancy and breastfeeding for the development of baby’s nervous system*, brain* and eyes*. Research even shows that Mums who supplement with high DHA omega 3 have a higher quantities of this in their breastmilk, which is important for baby’s brain and eye development.
Demand for omega 3 increases during pregnancy and breastfeeding, meaning we need more of it in our diets to ensure we can support both Mum and baby. The problem is that the NHS and other guidance recommend that women don’t eat too much fish at this time owing to contaminants. Super pure, high quality fish oil supplements are therefore really useful at this time to ensure the body gets what it needs.
*EFSA validated claim
Should I take them together?
Together these products contain premium, bio-available nutrients and omegas to boost the body and mind whilst also nourishing a growing baby.
Though you can take either product separately, they work best when combined together in our Total Pregnancy bundle, which is ideal whether trying to conceive, pregnant, breastfeeding or looking to support post-natal wellbeing.